The Gift
by Wolvenfire86
Summary: I know how lame OC's can be, but I promise to everyone who reads all the way through that you will enjoy yourself. Twist Ending.
1. The Ways of The Wind

**I realize the incredible risk I am taking with original characters, but I think I wrote something REALLY good this time. It is a tragedy, and it going to really move some people. Twist Ending.  
**

**I don't own Avatar of any of its characters**

* * *

**The Ways of The Wind**

_Understand these traditions, for they are the only ones that the airbenders must cling too._

_To the North and South, all men will train. To the East and West, all women will train. To the whole world, all airbenders will travel._

_Each airbender, male or female, shall begin their lives in one of the two temples. Those born in the growing seasons shall go to the North or the West. Those born in the sleeping seasons will go to the South and the East._

_Before anything else, an airbender must be taught how to properly view the world. They must see everything as an illusion, as a temporary attachment. They must be taught to not desire anything, except peace. They must seek nothing except wisdom and what is best for the world and their people._

_When their training begins, each airbender must learn in patient steps. Each level must be taught at ones own pace, and a student should never be pushed beyond their limits until they are ready. Therefore, a Master should instruct many students but still instruct individual students, those who show special gifts or who struggle in the Way of Bending._

_In order to become a Master, an airbender must show proficiency in all of the 36 levels our craft, then create their own technique. Upon doing this, a Master shall receive the sacred arrows tattoos, which gives them the power of the Sky Bisons and shows the world what they have achieved._

_An airbender need not master the Art of Bending to leave our temples. Once an airbender is old enough, their Elders may give them permission to leave and they may choose to leave to travel the world, where they may find love and marry. They may return if they wish, and they may leave when they get older. The Temple is not to be a prison, but a safe haven_

_Once every 10 years there will be held the Gathering of the Four Winds, when a great celebration shall be held with all unmarried airbenders of each Temple. Here is the one time when airbenders shall stop their studies and enjoy life. Those of at least 16 may find a husband or wife._

_As long as sex does not remain an everyday part of life, and that the greed for the flesh does not overpower oneself, such a union is allowed._

But above all other laws...

_...Every airbender who decides to give life to a child must surrender their first born to the appropriate Temple. Whether it be the offspring of two airbenders, or from any other union, the first child must be delivered to the temples, so that the airbenders will survive. There are no exceptions. This law __**must **__be followed!_

_These are the traditions! Practice them carefully. They are the only ones we have._

* * *

This is a story of a girl who did not understand those traditions.

* * *

She loved dancing with the wind. The wind loved to tickle her hair.

She laughed a lot.

She sang a lot.

She smiled even when the sky was full of clouds.

She was a young girl. But her teachers would say that she was already a woman.

She loved flying, and eating, and hearing music. Her friends were the younger children in the Eastern Air Temple, the ones she would watch after when it was time for them to play.

Her world was beautiful, full of life and hope and laughter.

And yet she had never stepped foot outside her temple, never flown passed her mountain top. She knew there was a big world out there; she had read lots of stories about it.

She hadn't seen a Man in over a decade. When she was a little girl, she remembered seeing one…once, but after so long she forgot what _they _looked like. She heard that they were strong and brave and could make girls laugh and feel funny, but she didn't think about them often.

She had heard of Dragons and Badger-moles, but the Sky Bisons were the biggest animals she had ever seen. She heard of things called Cats, but the Lemurs were the smallest animals she had ever seen.

Zhen didn't know much about the world, but she knew all that she needed to. She was happy…and that was all that mattered.

Wasn't it?

* * *

"Zhen, come down from there!"

Zhen pretended to not hear Ji call her. She was having too much fun dancing with the morning breeze.

"I mean it! You don't want the old Wolf-bat to find you, do you?! We have work to do!" Ji hollered up to her friend.

"Fine!" Zhen sighed and flew back down to the base of the temple. She landed in front of Ji with a loud and sudden thud that knocked the poor girl off her feet.

"Hey!" Ji landed on her butt with a thud just as loud.

"Oh!" Zhen giggled. "I'm sorry." She reached down to help her back up.

Ji was a few years younger then Zhen. They were like sisters, always looking out for one another. Zhen would offer to help Ji cheat on her airbending tests, and Ji would lecture her on why cheating was a bad thing. Ji would get blamed for Zhen's mistakes, and Zhen would stand up for Ji no matter how bad the problem. They'd sneak out at night and sometimes steal some fruit custard from the pantry, only to get stomach aches the next morning. Ji was 'the shy one', and Zhen did everything she could to make Ji come out of her shell.

They called themselves Sisters. For all they knew, they _were_ sisters. Airbenders did not keep records of who came from what family. They didn't even get their names from their parents; the Masters who ran the temple gave it to them.

But their origins did not matter. Fate had put them both there, at the Eastern Air Temple, and they were both equals in the other's eye.

"What were you doing out here?" Ji asked. "Again! At the same place too! You are gonna get caught sooner or later."

"Not if you keep it a secret." Zhen tapped Ji on the head with her glider and Ji moaned in pain. "I'm sorry." Zhen giggled again as she rubbed her 'sister's' head.

"Get off. I'm not a little kid." Ji complained, knowing how important the age of thirteen was to girls.

"I know. But I remember when you were just a little twerp." Sixteen year old Zhen said and rubbed the top of Ji's head.

"Can we go now?" Ji begged.

"One more minute." Zhen look over the edge of the cliff, passed the pale white fog. Eye closed gently, she took a deep breath and held out her arms. "I love this place so much."

Ji looked over the edge and only saw the sea of white clouds that always surrounded the Temple.

"Why?" Ji asked.

"Because _this _is the place furthest from the Temple center. The closest place you can go to the Outside World without actually leaving the Temple." Zhen's smile kept growing.

"You really want to leave this place, don't you?" Ji grinned and shook her head, judgingly. The one thing they could never agree on was the fascination with the outside world. Ji was happy being in the Eastern Air Temple and would have been content if she never left the mountain she was raised on.

But while Ji looked at what was in front of her, Zhen dreamed.

She dreamed of seeing the North Pole, sailing with the Waterbenders on leather-bound boats. She wanted to watch the sun rise of the Fire Nation and hear the sages chat to the Dragons. She wanted count the starts at night, laying in a grassy field, slowly falling asleep. She wanted to know what a firefly was and what alcohol tasted like and how long it would take to fly around the whole world once.

She harbored one secret wish though, a wish that was unfortunately one that was not uncommon for young girls at that time and of her age.

She wanted meet the Avatar.

She didn't care the Fire Nation was starting to cause trouble in some parts of the Earth Kingdom (according to the rumors). She wanted to meet Roku more than anything. She dreamt of having conversations with Him, and finding out that he Avatar had a great sense of humor, that he liked sweet foods and pets like she did. She was sure that they would have been wonderful friends if they just spent sometime together.

"Well…Elder Kyoko is looking for you…" Ji interrupted Zhen's moment of peace.

"Oh, that witch again?"

"Don't say things like that."

"She _is_ a witch! I can't even tell a joke around her with her giving me a stone face."

"Be nice. She is only trying to help us become women."

"She's trying to make us be just like her." Zhen huffed. "I want to be just like _me_!"

"Can we talk about this later?" Ji begged again. "We have a lot of work to do."

"Fine. I guess." Zhen put her glider on the strap on her shoulders. "Where is she?"

"In the center courtyard. Hanging the decorations."

"Do you think that this festival is going to be all that it's worked up to be?" Zhen sighed, not interested in doing more work. She had been working nonstop for five days straight, along with all of her other sisters, preparing for the Gathering of the Four Winds Festival.

"Can we _please _just go?" Ji begged, fearing Elder Kyoko's wrath.

"Alright, alright, let's go." Zhen walked away. Ji ran.

Zhen rolled her eyes and thought. "_This is going to be a loooong week_."


	2. Preparing For The Festival

**Preparing for the Festival**

"Higher!" Elder Kyoko, one of the oldest and crankiest nun in the temple, ordered the younger adults with her usual stern tone. "Raise the banner higher!" The other women nervously obeyed.

Ji and Zhen ran into the courtyard and casually walked behind the old nun.

"Not so fast!" Kyoko yelled, seeing them through the eyes in the back of her head. Both girls froze. "Ji, you may go. Zhen, I want to speak with you."

Zhen forced herself to be quiet and not moan out loud. Ji ran, waving goodbye to her sister and silently wishing her 'good luck'.

"Stand the way you were told." Kyoko barked as she turned around to face Zhen.

Zhen stood up straight, with her hands at her side and her elbows in tucked in, the way Kyoko taught her to stand.

"Now…where were you this morning?"

"Just out for a morning fly ma'am." Zhen didn't want to risk lying to her. Lying was not something airbenders did. It apparently it was also not something that women did either. Ever since they started preparing for Gathering of the Four Winds Festival, Zhen had been taught the difference between things girls did and did not do.

"A morning fly, is that right?" Kyoko nodded her head. Zhen was used to her mocking tone.

"Yes ma'am."

"Why were you not working with the rest of the girl? Or practicing your fan dance? You _have_ been practicing your fan dance, haven't you?"

"I have ma'am. Over and over again. And I have been working hard too. I have been working so much that I really needed a break. Just a short break. I won't run off again, I promise."

Kyoko looked in her eyes. Zhen tried not to flinch. Kyoko's eyes were as dark as swirling thunderstorm and they made a crashing sound when they looked at Zhen.

"Hmm." Kyoko grunted. "You have a very important responsibility this year, you know. You are of marrying age now, and it is important that you are active at this the festival."

"Ma'am, what if I don't _want_ to get married at the festival?" Zhen asked, not trying to be defiant, only to be truthful.

"That's fine. You are more than welcome to get married later in life, or not at all. But your birthday year… your sixteenth birthday falls in perfect sequence with this festival. It is not tradition, but a very strange coincidence that every girl who is sixteen during the Gathering of the Four Winds find her husband at the festival."

"I wish people would explain this…ceremony to me more clearly." Zhen complained. "I don't even remember what men look like."

"Oh trust me, you will remember _this_ time."

"What does that mean?" Zhen asked.

"You will see." Kyoko smiled. Zhen had never seen her smile. She never saw Kyoko's cheeks turn red either.

"Um…Elder Kyoko?" Zhen started.

"Yes?" She practically giggled, which made Zhen even more uncomfortable.

"…never mind. It's not important."

Just as quickly as she had turned into a blushing schoolgirl, Kyoko changed back into a stern statue. "Well…if you have no more questions, then go to the dance hall and practice your fan dance."

"Again?" Zhen raised her eyebrow.

"Did you not hear me?" Kyoko stuck her finger out and pointed Zhen in the right direction. "Go." Zhen sighed, bowed and then walked away from the grumpy Elder.

* * *

The fan dance was fairly simple, just a few basic body movements that matched the movements of a small red fan in Zhen's right hand. But to perfect it took many hours. Zhen spent more hours practicing the fan dance than her airbending moves in the weeks leading up to the festival.

She got bored easily with practicing, and started using the fan as a weapon, rehearsing her favorite airbending attacks.

Ji walked by the open door of the dance hall, carrying a water bucket to the kitchen, and she saw her sister playing…when she should have been studying.

"Zhen?" Ji said, startling Zhen.

"AH!" Zhen launched the fan across the room and a mini-tornado blasted across the hall, blowing the mats off the floor. "Don't sneak up on my like that Ji." Zhen inhaled.

"I'm sorry." Ji bowed, timidly.

"It's okay." Zhen walked over to the red fan and picked it up. It was in two pieces. "Great. Just great."

"I'm sorry." Ji said again, holding onto the water bucket. Her little body could barely carry it.

"Don't worry about it. It's fine." Zhen put the broken fan in her back pocket.

"Are you alright Zhen? You've been a little more…moody in the last few weeks."

"It's…" Zhen paused for a few seconds. "It's whole festival thing. There's so much work, and pressure. I just want to practice airbending. I want to pass my next level airbending test and I'm not getting enough practice. And Kyoko is always barking up my tree, saying that I have been more _lady-like _and stuff. I mean, who cares if men are coming?"

"You don't." Ji said, not knowing what else to say.

"Our sisters from the Fire Nation are coming too, from the Western Temple. No one is making a fuss about them."

"Well, the men and the women don't see each other often. This _is_ a big event." Ji's innocent voice squeaked a bit.

"I guess. Still…why am I suddenly the golden girl in Kyoko's eyes? Why wasn't she proud me before?"

"I…don't know." Ji admitted.

"Never mind." Zhen sighed again.

"I'm really sorry Zhen…"

"Again. It's not your fault." Zhen took out a second fan from her back pocket, sighing. "I have to keep practicing."

"I'll leave you then." Ji carried the large water bucket away, teetering left and right, trying not to spill any.

Zhen sighed and went back to practicing her dance.

"This better all be worth it." She moaned. She had starting moaning a lot since the idea of men came into her head.

* * *

**I think every girl know what Zhen is going through. Men, am I right?**


	3. Men, whatever THOSE are

**Men…whatever those are.**

Zhen rose slowly that morning. Chirping of birds were her alarm clock.

She stretched her lean arms up into the air, happy for a minute before remembering what day it was and what she would be doing all day.

All week.

"Great." She rolled her eyes and got up. She put her yellow robes on carefully, knowing that Elder nun Kyoko would punish her harshly if she didn't look her finest, and left her room in a hurry.

Then she ran back inside and grabbed her little red fan.

* * *

Breakfast, which was usually served in a large dining hall on low tables, was cancelled.

"Oh, come on!" Zhen whined. The whole temple was told to resist their appetites. They would eat when the airbenders from the other temples arrived.

Though Zhen knew the traditions of a warrior monk, she did not have the patience. She was used to eating when her stomach growled.

* * *

As she waited in the courtyard for the other airbenders to arrive, her stomach screamed at her.

All of her sisters were waiting. Ji sat right by Zhen's side, as always.

"How much longer till they come?" Zhen whispered to Ji. Before she could answer, Kyoko stood up among the other Master airbenders and spoke to all of young girls.

"Now listen," Kyoko started, "They will be arriving shortly. I want everyone, especially the older girls, to be at their most impressive behavior."

Zhen raised her hand.

"No smart comments Student Zhen." Kyoko ordered her.

"Aren't airbenders not supposed to be impressive or show off?" Zhen, of course, gave a smart comment.

"Festivals are about temporarily putting aside certain rules. There is nothing wrong with flirting a bit…"

"Flirting?!" Zhen's eyebrows bent.

"…as long as you are not consumed by it. This festival has many purposes. One of them being to expose you girls to some kinds of things you would normally not be allowed to do. Like eating too much. If you constantly ignore or avoid those temptations, then those things have control over your life anyway. With balance, you achieve discipline."

Zhen raised her hand again. "What 'things' are you talking about?"

"All in good time Zhen." Kyoko ignored her.

Suddenly, a horn blew. It echoed across the Temple. "I see them! I see them!" Someone in the Spotting Tower yelled.

"Oh! Here they come. Places everyone, places!"

All of the girls lined up in their ordered rows and stood very straight. Zhen left Ji, heading to the very front rows with the other older girls. She missed her company immediately.

"_If men are going to pull me and my friend away from each other, then I hate them already_." Zhen thought.

A second horn blew from across the sky. Then a third from the top of the Spotting Tower. The ones from the heavens sounded deeper and more powerful then the high pitched horn of the Easter Air Temple.

Zhen looked through the clouds and saw herds of Sky Bisons flying. Dozens of them, from both the northeast and the southeast. Both male airbenders had arrived at the exact same time! Zhen was not impressed.

Some older monks let birds loose and the sky filled with streamers and feathers as the many Bisons landed. Some of the men on the backs of the Bisons cheered and yelled "Hello!"

Zhen huffed when they landed, getting grumpier by the second. But her annoyance turned into confusion when she saw their heads. All of the men were bald!

Each one of them, completely shaven from front to back. Even the ones without arrow tattoos were shaved. Zhen touched the long hair behind her head and suddenly was proud to have it there.

As they helped each other get in the ground, Zhen was shocked to see that some of the older ones had hair growing off their faces. Hair grew under their nose and mouths. She hadn't seen such a thing in her life, or at least nothing that she would remember.

As they walked towards the lined up girls, Zhen could tell that they were taller than she was, but she didn't realize by _how _much until they passed right in front of her. They were huge!

Not only were they all, but their sizes were as various and unpredictable as the shapes of clouds. Though many of them were very lean, there were a few men that had lumps all over their bodies _and _still had thin waists. Zhen thought that there was something wrong with them at first, like they were sick. Then she saw the larger ones carrying more supplies than the thinner ones, so she knew they were healthy.

Regardless of how wide they were, they all were stronger than any woman Zhen had ever seen. They carried carts and boxes like they were weightless. Zhen wondered if _this _is what Kyoko meant when she said "showing off".

On top of all of those news sight, seeing such a different kind of human, Zhen noticed one other thing. It was something that caught her eye with more attraction than any other feature about them. She had no way of explaining it, but there was just something about some of the men her age that she liked. She liked looking at them, just looking. She even felt a little guilty when she realized that she liked it. _"They look…nice."_ That was what she told herself and it was the only way she could explain it.

When she saw one of the taller men look back at her, her cheeks turn red.

The hour long induction ceremony went by quickly. A short speech by the members of both the North and South Air Temples, waiting for the Western airbenders to arrive.

Zhen didn't pay attention to the speeches. She kept on looking at some of the men who sat on the other side of the courtyard. She smiled and watching them smile back, then quickly turning her head like she was breaking some kind of rule.

* * *

Another thing Zhen learned about men that day was that they could eat!

Breakfast began before Zhen could talk to any of them. They took to eating like a frog took to water, in a giant and sudden leap. Each man, in one serving, devoured enough food to feed one airbending girl for a full day. Some ate very little, but the lumpy ones with the small waists ate three as much as the thin ones.

Intrigued, Zhen watched them eat like they were animals at the zoo. Kyoko told them that that was how all women watched them. The older monks laughed. Zhen didn't understand the joke.

The moment food was done, each young person cleaned their plates and left to the lower grounds of the temple, where games and entertainment were waiting. By the time they were out in the courtyard, a number of carts and tents had already been set up in the courtyard. They were there for entertainment, to put on shows, plays, to sing songs and serve more food! Each tent was from either one of the visiting temples or a traveling merchant who had special permission to sell their products during the festival week. And each had swarms of people flowing from one to another.

Zhen was not a coy girl, but as she walked through the dense crowd she found herself avoiding the tall men . She quickly became annoyed with the overwhelming shyness that accompanied all of her new discoveries.

Fed up with being out of the circle, and with Ji nowhere in sight, Zhen decided to visit one of Southern Air Temples' tents. A group of benders wanted to show off their air bending skills in a sparing match.

After the first few minutes of the show, Zhen thought that she needed to get more bending practice. From what she watched, she could tell that the girl airbenders had better balance and were faster, but the male benders were so much stronger, had more endurance and could perform techniques that made most of Zhen's bending look like beginner's moves.

Zhen got mad after another few minutes (and maybe a bit jealous) and decided to leave. She didn't care if who saw her exit.

She felt a headache coming on; her head was spinning. She was having trouble taking in all of the new things in such a short time. When she was very little, she had thought that there were _only_ girls in the world. Now she suddenly had to deal with a whole new category of human beings! It was exhausting. Exciting, but exhausting.

"This isn't fair." She said to herself.

"What isn't fair?"

"Ah!!" She jumped when she heard Ji speak behind her.

"Sorry." Ji bowed.

"You need to stop doing that." Zhen caught her breath.

"I'm sorry." Ji bowed again. "What is bothering you?"

"All of this. These…people."

"People?" Ji asked.

"Yeah. Why didn't Kyoko tell us more?"

"What do mean?" Ji asked.

"You know. Them. And what they can do."

"Um…I don't understand."

"Ji! Come on. These…men. I mean, you don't notice anything different about them?"

"Just because they are different doesn't mean that they should be treated differently."

"That's not what I meant. I meant…" Zhen waved her arms around wildly. "…look at them!"

"I think you are making these things up."

"I'm not! I'm serious!" Zhen yelled.

She did not notice a young boy standing behind her, ease dropping. He saw her leave the tent and followed her, waiting for the right moment to interrupt.

"Zhen…" Ji wanted to warned Zhen to stop. _She_ saw the boy.

"These men are…are…they are all strange."

"Here, here!" The boy spoke up and Zhen jumped again. "I couldn't agree with you more." He smiled and laughed.

"I…I…uh…" Zhen suddenly became warm and so nervous that she couldn't talk.

"Are you okay?" The boy asked.

"Zhen?" Ji tugged on her sleeve.

"I…" Zhen coughed. "…I'm fine." She was angry at him.

"Good." He smiled. Zhen felt her blood rush. "Nice to meet you." He held out his hand. It was twice as big as hers.

"Yeah. Thanks." She shook his hand. His skin was rough.

"Can I help you?"

"Yes, you can. There is going to be a dance tonight. Everyone is supposed to find a partner." He kept smiling. Zhen felt something dance in her stomach. She wanted to stay mad at him, she really did. But the more he smiled, the harder it was to hate him.

"Um…" Her tongue would not stop swelling. "…I don't even know you."

"Well, your name is Zhen, I know that." The boy looked at Ji, who had said her named out loud. "And I'm Chun. Now that we know each other, do you want to go to the dance with me?"

"I'm going to go." Ji said, and casually slipped away from the two young people.

From a far, Ji watched them nervously speak to each other for a good ten minutes. Then they walked with each other. Then, she saw Zhen laugh and cover her cheeks.

Ji sighed and scratched her head. "She's weird."


	4. The Promise

**The Promise**

Zhen had never laughed so hard or smiled so much. She could not explain it, but Chun was so…different. She felt a kind of tugging whenever he looked in her eyes

She had a connection with him. She felt safe around him, though she never felt _un_safe by herself before.

He was nice to her. He bought her candies and played games with her. Zhen didn't know why he did those things. Or why she let him. She was moving with the flow of it, like she had always known what to do on 'A Date'.

Chun asked her questions about who she was and what she liked to do, which flattered her. He danced with her and Zhen finally put her fan dance to good use. They had dinner together, the first time in her life that she ate away from her sisters.

But the strangest and the most exciting thing Chun did was just before they both went to sleep. The boys and the girls slept in different temples, so before leaving her, Chun gave Zhen a little kiss. Zhen's body froze when he did, numb with a nervous tingle.

"Goodnight." Chun said to her, not breaking eye contact with her. Zhen slowly waved to him as he walked away.

"…goodnight." She said when he was out of ear's reach.

Ji had left her alone on that first night, but finally approached Zhen when the boy had gone.

"Are you okay?" Ji asked. Zhen looked like she was in a trance."What did he do to you?" Ji sounded worried.

"I don't know." Zhen giggled and danced away, knowing that she would never get to sleep.

* * *

She didn't.

The stars kept her awake. So did the wind. And the snoring from the Sky Bisons.

The whole night, she didn't stop smiling.

* * *

And the next morning, she was smiling again. Chun found her and they spent another day together.

Not wanting to get involved, Ji went her own ways during the festival.

She ate some dumplings by the food carts and she saw Zhen out of the corner of her eye, sharing a loaf of bread with Chun.

A handful of younger children begged Ji to play with them. Just before agreeing, Ji saw two gliders fly over the trees in the north part of the temple. She knew who they were.

Fireworks exploded that night, imported from the Fire Nation. They scared some of the young kids, but Ji loved them. She thought they were beautiful. So did Zhen. She and "that boy" watched them together. Ji pretended to not see them.

And the next day…the same thing happened. Ji was left alone while Zhen chased after her new crush. Ji didn't know how to feel.

Zhen became so attached to Chun that they stayed together for every day of the festival. Each day until then was filled with laughter and flirting, food and music, dancing and gentle kissing.

Ji watched them hold hands and tease each other. It wasn't until she saw Zhen led Ji to her Secret Spot, the place furthest from the Temple Center, that she finally got jealous at the boy.

They didn't come back from that spot for over an hour. No one stopped them.

* * *

The last day of the festival was mostly clean up. There was a HUGE feast to finish the final bits of food and then everyone took turns disassembling the tents. Zhen and Chun were still inseparable, helping each other with their tasks.

"How far away is the Southern Air Temple?" Zhen asked as she put a pile of streamers back in a box.

"It's pretty far away. We traveled for a three whole days before making it here. And we only stopped in the Earth Kingdom at night…" Chun picked up a tent's support beam and moved it. "…in Omashu. They let us stay there."

"Is it a town?"

"Ha! It's a city. A HUGE city, but not as big as Ba Sing Se. Lots of different people there, lots of trading. It is very nice."

"You've _really_ seen the world, haven't you?" Zhen smiled widely.

"Nah…" Chun lowered his head. "Omashu is the only place I've seen. And this temple"

"But… you _want _to see the world, right?" Zhen prayed that he'd say 'yes'.

"Of course. I'm happy at my home…" Chun picked up another beam. "…but I want to see the Earth Kingdom. I want to…" He gulped. "…one day, I want to leave the temple and have a family. I don't want to be an old man and be unmarried. I want children. And a wife." He smiled

"That…sounds really nice. I want the same thing as you." She smiled back. There was a long pause between them. Very long. "I wish you didn't have to leave." Zhen said, frowning.

Chun saw her smile vanish and felt sorry for her, for both of them.

"Wait here." He said just before running off. He left Zhen alone for only a moment before hustling back with a purple ribbon in hand. It was long enough to wrap around a man's wrist twice. "Here. This is for you."

"Wow! Oh wow! Thank you! Thank you so much!" Zhen smiled. She had never received a (non eatable) gift before. Not once in her life.

"I will make a promise if you take this."

"…what?"

"I want you to wear it in your hair. To remember me." He gulped. "Meet me in Omashu. On the winter solstice. Three years from now."

"What?" Zhen blushed and felt nervous, even afraid.

"I mean it. I want to finish my airbending training. I will focus on and try to become a Master in three years. Whether I succeed or fail, I will meet you there."

"But…that means…" She looked at the ribbon and then back at him.

"Will you take it? Will you make that promise with me? We can already leave our temples. Three years, that is all. I will meet in the front gate of the southern entrance of Omashu. I swear that I will."

Zhen tried to think , but she could not. An older woman would blame her emotions and say that they were too strong for a young girl to control. An older man would say that they were both infatuated. But Zhen's heart screamed an answer at her, and it was much louder than anything her better judgment said.

"Yes." She said, smiling. "I will meet you there."

Chun's smile grew. He took her hand and gently gave her the ribbon.

"I will be there. I swear I will." Chun put her hands together and he kissed her knuckle. Zhen giggled lightly, knowing in her heart that he was telling the truth. All young girls _know_ that boys do not lie. Older women tend to know better.

* * *

That evening, Zhen watched the Sky Bisons from the Southern Air Temple fly away, her eyes fixated on Chun. She saw him wave to her just before he became to small to see. She waved back, feeling that strange sensation in her chest again.

Within an hour after the men left, the temple grounds were clean and any and all evidence of the festival had been stripped away…except for the purple ribbon that Zhen proudly wore in her hair.


	5. Leaving For Love

**Leaving For Love**

The three years passed. Zhen never forgot him. And she was convinced that Chun did not forget her.

She spent more time on her glider than any other monk in the temple, knowing that she would need to it to fly to Omashu when the time came for her to leave.

In those three years, she had much more concentration and acted maturely. She did not run off to play games randomly anymore, or disobey Kyoko as often. She was more focused, knowing that she had a goal outside of the Temple, knowing that there was something for her to actually work towards.

Kyoko noticed, and was pleased.

Ji noticed, and she was not.

In three years, Zhen completed 14 of the 36 levels of Air Bending, but after that she stopped advancing. She lost interest. She thought that other things were important, like eidetic and the art of conversations. "Besides," she would say "the idea of getting a tattoo _that_ big sounds…painful."

Because her focus was always on the Outside World, her creativity suffered. She had a harder time imaging, dreaming, thinking of fantastic stories for children to hear. It was a price, but she paid it and considered it to be a small one.

In the last year of her stay at the Temple, Zhen practiced her calligraphy and experimented with cooking. In private, she flirted with her reflection in the water, pretending to be speaking to Chun. She wanted to impress him and make sure that she could impress the other people in the Earth Kingdom, for she was sure that everyone would love to meet her.

Time went by so quickly for Zhen. She was always at work, if not studying then teaching. And if not teaching, then practicing. And if not practicing, then playing with the purple ribbon in her hair, which she never removed expect when taking a bath. She made sure that it stayed in perfect condition. She washed it herself, by hand, and never let anyone else touch it. Once, a small piece of it ripped and she sowed the silk back together herself.

The ribbon was one of the only things she owned, and a good thing too. Her glider, her robes, a comb for her hair (which she was allowed to grow out longer now), and the ribbon were the only things she planned on taking with her when she would leave. A few snacks and some money, sure, but nothing heavy. She planned everything out carefully, months before her departure.

Ji thought it was an obsession. She thought Zhen was…unhealthy. But in the three years leading up to her journey, Ji kept her mouth shut…until the very last day.

* * *

Zhen was packed in only a few short minutes. She only carried a bag of nuts for the trip. Fasting was another skill she learned in her three years of intensive study.

Kyoko gave her a bag of gold coins for support, and told her to watch it carefully, claiming that many people in the Outside World were thieves. Zhen did not believe her.

Ji slowly came into Zhen's room on that night, nervous as usual.

"Zhen." She whispered. Zhen did not hear her over the sound of her own whistling. "Zhen!"

"Oh. Ji. Hi little sister." Zhen smiled at her.

"I…wanted to talk to you." Ji had grown into a young woman, not fully an adult yet. They had both changed. Ji was a teenager, still blossoming, and Zhen was beautiful twenty year old women, as confident as she was attractive. One was tall, the other was short. The differences between them were so large now that they were impossible to ignore. Zhen knew they had drifted apart, but didn't want to admit it. Neither of them wanted too.

"You sure know how to pick a funny time." Zhen sat down on her bed. "I'm leaving first thing to…"

"I know." Ji interrupted her. "I…don't think you should go."

"What? Why?" Zhen's eyebrows crumpled, confused.

Ji gulped. She had a hard time speaking her mind.

"You don't know if that boy will even be there!" She raised her voice abruptly. For some reason, she got very angry. "And you don't know anything about being on your own, or where to find the city. And you don't even know who he is? He must have changed, he must have!"

Zhen laughed gently.

"Don't laugh! I'm being serious!" Ji stamped her foot.

"Sorry. Look, Ji, I know what this is about…"

"I just told you what it was about!."

"…I know you are going to miss me. But I made a promise to Chun. And airbenders have to keep their vows."

"What if _he_ forgot? What if he isn't there, or if you get attacked while you are waiting for him?"

"Ji…if he isn't there, I will come right back. I promise. But I know he will be there." She blushed. "I can feel it."

"Stop it! Stop it!" Ji turned red, yelling. "You don't know what you are talking about! You are too young, you don't know what you are doing!"

"Too young? Me?" Zhen chuckled again.

"Yes! You!" Ji huffed.

"I'm old enough to leave the temple. Kyoko said so. So…I guess that means that I am old enough to go after love." Zhen turned away.

Ji shook with frustration. After years of repressing your emotions out of fear and insecurity, she didn't know how to explain her feelings, even to her best friend.

"Don't leave!" She yelled after a few long seconds. "Stay! Don't go!"

"I have to go." Zhen said, calmly.

"You are making a mistake…and…and…I know you are!"

"I am not." Zhen felt an impulse to yell at Ji, but curbed it. "Ji…you are my best friend. Don't make our last conversation be a bad one."

Ji was pink. She crossed her arms, huffed loudly and walked away. Zhen felt bad for her. She told herself that Ji was only acting out because she was really going to miss her.

For a second, Zhen thought that may be she _would_ run into trouble in the Outside World. But, as young people are used to doing, she ignore such an idea and kept packing.

* * *

Zhen watched the sun rise on the temple mountain one last before leaving. She grabbed her small bag and flew away, not even saying goodbye to the elders or the children. Everyone else was asleep by the time she left.

Except Ji. She watched her big sister fly away, helpless.

She didn't realize how horrible being alone felt until the very moment Zhen disappeared from her sight.


	6. Time Changes People

**Time Changes People**

Zhen did not come back. Ji counted the days in the first few months, but then the solstice came and went. Before Ji knew it, a gentle layer of snow covered the temple grounds. Winter had come and Zhen was not there to sing the seasonal hymns.

Months passed. Ji visited Zhen's secret spot every week. Then every other week. Then every few months. Then she stopped all together. One day the elder monks announced that they would erect a shrine there in that vacant spot. The night before they began building, Ji spent one final hour flying around her big sisters favorite place.

Ji thought about Zhen every time she saw one of the young monks talk back to Kyoko. Whenever she saw the Elder Sisters return from their trips down the mountain (to deal with traders and merchants), Ji would hear the stories they told about the Outside World and would miss Zhen even more.

But time went on…and soon Ji found herself going entire days without thinking of Zhen. She practiced her bending, her rituals, read from the sacred scrolls and managed to not think of Zhen. Sure, the though of her big sister popped into her head every so often, but the memory did so without the helpless longing or a bitter emptiness she used to feel.

She'd sometimes imagine what Zhen was doing, if she found Chun, if she was living in a house or if she was getting married to him.

And then, before Ji had realized it, a whole year had gone by. Then two. She wondered if Zhen had children or if she was sick, or if Chun had abandoned her and she was out exploring the rest of the world like she always wanted too.

Zhen's told her what her greatest desire was Ji wondered if she met Avatar Roku.

So many months passed that Ji lost count. She became a diligent monk. She mastered airbending and had the famous tattoos put on her delicate skin. The pain would forever give her a queasy feeling in her stomach.

She was so good at studying and preaching that she became as influential as some of the higher ranking nun. She was even allowed to sit in the Elder Council, for everyone all hope that Ji would one day fill one of the Elder's chair.

She was so disciplined and so well trained…

…yet whenever she glanced at the new shrine at the far edge of the temple she became stricken with guilt, like she had betrayed Zhen's spirit by conforming.

More time passed. Ji became a woman. She was not as beautiful as some of the young women who had passed through the temple, and she had no yearning to leave the Temple. So she decided to stay there. She was not like Zhen…though she sometimes wished that she would see her big sister one more time, talk to her, see her children if she had any.

After about five years, Ji was in the middle of teaching some of the younger children of the temple. A little girl, no older than eight, ran by with a purple ribbon in her hair and Ji immediately started crying. She told the class that there was nothing wrong. But truth be told, Zhen had been gone for so long that Ji had forgotten what she looked like.

And then another year went by. Zhen became a memory, someone that was "in the past", not a prevalent thought, not a part of Ji's everyday life. Just a memory. A happy one, but nothing more than that.

* * *

Three knocks came on Master Ji's door, four days before the Festival of the Four Winds. The time had finally come again.

"Come in." Master Ji said, and a little girl gently entered her chamber, bowing low.

"Sister…the sun has been up for an hour. The other monks want me to tell you that we are ready to leave." The child said, humbly.

"Good. Good." Ji put her last scroll in her bag and stood up. "Let's get going then."

"Yes Ma'am." The child left quickly. She was one of Ji's many students. Ji had over a dozen young girls learning from her.

Ji left her room, not looking back, and marched towards the Sky Bisons in the center of the courtyard. Twelve of the mature ones had been assembled for the long journey to the Southern Air Temple. Ji was going to sit in the Bison with the children and make sure that they'd stay out of trouble.

Though time and responsibility had made her less lively, she still love children. She looked forward to telling them stories on the way, pointing out to the mountains of the Earth Kingdom and watching their little faces light up.

As everyone boarded, Ji saw two little girls struggled to climb the saddle of massive Sky Bison. She heard them argue.

"Why do we have go?!" The younger one moaned.

"Because. It'll be fun!"

"I'm happy here. Can't I stay with the Elders and watch over the temple?"

"The Elders say that we should go to meet our brothers and sisters from around the world. Besides, there will be lots of food and kids to play with."

"A bunch of yucky boys. Who cares about meeting boys?" The younger one crossed her arms and huffed.

Ji stopped walking when she heard her say that. She suddenly remembered the last time she heard an airbender stubbornly say such things. Almost dropping her glider, she grabbed her heart and felt a great pain inside her chest as he smile disappeared.

"Zhen…" She moaned for a minute.

"Are you prepared?" An old women asked Ji. It was the Mother Superior of the Temple, Sister Lio. She was an incredibly compassionate woman, full of laughter and smiles and great patience, Ji looked up to here more than anyone in the Temple.

"Yes Mother Superior." Ji bowed deeply.

"Then board. We will be leaving shortly." She smiled.

"Aye Ma'am." She got on the Bison with the young girls and waited for then to leave.

* * *

The journey was much longer than Ji expected. Twelve hours in the air each day, sailing through cloud after cloud after cloud, for three days straight. They passed a few cities and saw little ants wave at them. Ji did not really care. She loved her fellow man (and woman) but she _still _had no desire to go out and see the world.

The children waved to the people below. They saw a whole world as a place of magic. Ji saw a world of suffering, with starving peasants and crime. Funny how ten years can change someone's view of the world. Then again, Ji was never as optimistic as her older sister.

* * *

Ji did not enjoy herself at the festival. Though she knew that it was tradition, she could not change who she was, or who she had become. She did not like sweets, or loud music. She did not care for the dances and plays, or the wild times with all of the other air benders.

And she felt no real attraction to the men at the festival. Yes, some were handsome, and some even asked her to dance, but Ji declined their offers. Very simply, she was not interested. She liked her peaceful, quiet life, with no real changes. She enjoyed peace and order, meditation and training. She had gotten used to her life of endless study. It was safe.

And now that she was surrounded by screaming kids and young people flirting, she missed her life in the temple. She had gotten so used to it that she forgot that there were other ways to live.

"_I have decided_." She thought to herself on the last day of the festival. "_I will not leave the Eastern Air Temple. I am happy there. The Elders want me to stay anyway. Why even bother leaving? Things like this Festival...they are just distractions."_

* * *

Like every ten years, the festival began. Like every ten years, the festival ended. And like every ten years, the airbenders were expected to go right back to their normal lives the moment it was all over.

Ji finally saw flaws in the old customs, though she bit down on her own tongue when she thought of sharing those flaws with the others.

The ride home was long, even longer than going to the Southern Air Temple. The children were so worked up that Ji nearly lost her temper in front of them. The young girls were all talking about leaving the Air Temple and finding husbands now, or at least going back to the Southern Air Temple someday. It annoyed Ji.

They stopped at the same spots, and took the same number of days to get back home. But for Ji, it felt so much longer.

Finally, after days of flying through clouds and nights of sleeping under stars, the large group of airbenders reached their mountain range, amongst the jagged castles of stone that protected them from the Outside World.

Home had never looked so good for Ji. She was glad the Festival was over. The Festival of Vices, as she started to call it. Now she could get back to her life of study and method. The customs may have been imperfect, but they were what she believed in. That was what she cared about. Her beliefs. Her ways.

Ji's Bisons landed first. She helped each child off the massive beast one by one.

"Okay children. We have a lot of unpacking to do, so everyone help each other and we will be done in only a few…"

"Eeeeeeeee!!" One of the girls screamed and pointed to a dark figure in the center of the courtyard.

Covered in black rags, a person limped towards the group of young girls. Two of the Sky Bisons growled at the ominous person, ready to attack it.

"Everyone behind me!" Ji yelled. The girls hid beside the Sky Bisons and three other Elders stood next to Ji.

It was a human, underneath the tattered rags. It limped towards them, wobbling with each step.

"Traveler," Ji shouted to it. "I don't know who you are or how you got here…but we do not like strangers here."

The person halted. Ji thought she heard a sniffle come from out of the filthy cloths.

"I'm…" A girl's voice spoke. "…not a stranger."

The wind blew and the hood on the robe lifted. An older Zhen looked at Ji. Her face was dirty, maybe bruised. Her hair was uncombed and laced with broken twigs. Her hands were scratched ans scarred. Blood dotted her fingernails.

"Zhen?" Ji's jaw fell.

"…I…" Zhen sniffled again, almost crying.

Her eyes were so tragic that Ji nearly cried herself just from looking into them. Ji remembered her gray eyes used to be alive and vibrant. Now they were dead, full of hopelessness, maybe even hate. They didn't dance or glow, they just stared at Ji, piercing through her. Zhen looked so lost and so sad that words could not describe the pain written on her face.

"Zhen!" Ji ran to her. Just as she was in reach of her older sister, Zhen collapsed on one knee, moaning gently. "Zhen! Someone help!"

Ji caught her and tried to help her up. Though she was taller, she felt lighter. Ji could feel Zhen's bones through her robe, as if she hadn't eaten in weeks.

"I'm sorry…" Zhen whispered. She was weak.

"Get her some help. I need water, and food. And a warm bed for her to rest in."

"…I never…" Zhen began sobbing."…I never should have left."


	7. Broken Spirit

**Broken Spirit**

Zhen ate like a savage. It seemed that seven years away from the Air Temple had erased all of the heavily emphasized etiquette that the Sisters had taught her. But they spoke no criticism. Zhen was dangerously thin underneath the black robes she wore, which happened to have been her once yellow Air Bending robes, tattered and torn through what must have been hard times.

Ji and the Elder Nuns watched Zhen eat and drink in silence. She ate and drank enough to feed four girls. Zhen occasionally groaned and clenched her stomach, her insides painfully stretching as they finally got food.

"Zhen?" Ji spoke up after about twenty minutes had passed. Zhen froze and, embarrassed, wiped the food crumbs off her dirty cheeks. There was more dirt on her face than food.

"Yes…" She coughed twice "…yes." She posture was poor and untamed. The other nuns noticed and sneered at her.

"How did you get back here?" Ji ignored her flaws. She only saw her old friend.

"I…never forgot where home was." Zhen smiled, but it looked like she was forcing it out. Her face was still broken, devoid of happiness. "I saw your Bisons fly in the sky more than a week ago and…and I thought it was time to come home." Impulsively, she grabbed another mug of water. She chugged it down like it was alcohol and gasped when she finished the cup.

"Where were you? What in Heavens named happened?" Ji asked, anxious to know.

Zhen shuttered and her eyes filled with fear. She looked away and shut her eyes.

"I…don't want to talk about it. Please don't make me." Her voice whimpered again.

"What? Zhen, you"

"Let's just say that you were right. I should never have left." She covered her eyes. "Bad things _did_ happen."

There was another very long silence while Zhen tried to pull herself together. Ji could _feel _her suffering. Ji actually felt pain from watching Zhen squirm. Even though she was safe now, Ji felt a dark presence cursing the aura of her sister.

"Is…" Ji started but stopped. She was about to ask where Chun was, but decided that it was best not to ask, not yet.

"How long was I gone for?" Zhen asked, rubbing a very small tear out of her left eye.

"A little more than seven years."

"Seven years?! Already?!" Zhen giggled awkwardly. "Everything moves a lot faster down in the Outside World. I can't believe…"

Zhen began to shake again. Her smile crippled and turned a horrible frown. Even the mention of the Outside World turned her into a crying lost child.

"I'm sorry Ji…" Zhen covered her eyes again. "…I'm sorry. I wish I hadn't left. It was stupid and…I missed home so much. Life is hard out there. And…" Zhen fell on her hands and began begging. "…I know I dishonored the temple by leaving so quickly. But please, I want to come back home. I'll do anything. I beg of you."

No matter which temple and now matter what age, there was always one elder monk in the Grand Council whom delighted in looking down on people. In the Eastern Air Temple, at this time, that monk was named Daio. Despite a having pretty name and being very wise, she had no patience for young people or the common mistakes that they often made. She was extremely stern and liked to teach children lessons through punishment rather than reinforcement.

As Zhen begged for forgiveness, Daio stood up and decided to answer for the entire group.

"You left so readily and now you expect us to just welcome you back?" She waved her finger around. "Your sister Ji warned you not to leave, and you left anyway! And now, only after you learned the hard way, you want things to go back to normal."

"You are always welcome here. You may stay as long as you like." Mother Superior Lio gave her final answer. Daio opened her mouth in shock, but did not say another word.

"Thank you Mother Superior, thank you." Zhen knew who she was by her robe. She sat up to look at her. "I cannot thank you en…ow!"

Zhen grabbed her stomach and flinched again. She sweating as red hot pain surged through her.

"Are you alright?" Ji asked.

"Yes…I'm just …very sore. It will pass, it always does." Zhen sighed as the pain disappeared.

"It always does? How long have you been feeling pain like this?"

"One gets used to it…" Zhen closed her eyes again and Ji's heart broke. "There. It's fine now." Her hyperventilating slowed.

"I think you need to rest." Lio said. She clapped her hands and two teenaged girls entered the room. "Prepare a bath for our guest. And a bed. She will be staying with us for a while."

Both girls bowed and waited for Zhen to stand up. Zhen shook as she moved. She did not smile, but Ji saw her eyes twinkle a bit.

"_She feels safe here." _Ji thought, _"She is home."_

* * *

The bath water was clear and warm. The room was scented with perfumes. Zhen had forgotten how a private bath felt like, and in such a large porcelain bathtub. Big enough to fit five people!

Candles were lit, as there were no windows. The room was very closed off. There was not a sound to be heard, just the gentle ripping of the warm, lathered water.

Zhen washed herself slowly, finally able to pull all of her thoughts together. As she did, she noticed how long her arms and legs had grown, how she had matured physically, even though she was too thin. Her hair had gotten very long, pass her hips. She had forgotten that it was naturally dark brown and not just covered in dirt.

She remembered when she was a young girl and she used to bathe in that same tub. And she remembered all the dreams she used to have.

The bath water became black in only a few minutes and Zhen had to pour some more water for herself. Cold water was the only thing left, but that was another thing that the trials of the Outside World had taught her to get used to.

And labor. The Outside World taught her about that as well. Her hands were once elegant and soft, but they had become rough and hard, like poorly cut stone. Her feet as well. She had left the Eastern Air Temple barefoot, and the soles of her feet were swollen from walking on hard roads and working to feed herself.

The real world was hard. Interesting and full of excitement, but hard. No matter what she did or how much money she worked for, it wasn't home.

"Oh!" Zhen groaned again. The horrible pain in her stomach came back, just as sharp as before. But longer. Much longer.

* * *

Zhen was given a very luxurious bed, not the usual thing airbenders slept in. Purple sheets of silk, feather pillows and a bowl of fresh fruit by her bed in case she needed to eat more. It was temporary, just a one night thing, but it was enough to bring a smile to Zhen's face.

Ji paced around the door of Zhen's room for a moment with a cup of water. Inhaling, she prepared herself and entered.

"Hello Zhen…oh!" Ji looked away. Zhen was getting dressed. "I'm sorry. I didn't…" Ji looked back and saw a mark on Zhen's shoulder. Ji didn't pry, but she swore that part of Zhen shoulder had been burnt.

"Ji?" Zhen threw her (new) robe on, tied it quickly and turned around.

"…hello Zhen." Ji waved, nervous.

"Ji…" Zhen smiled warmly. "Oh, Ji." She ran over and hugged her sister. Ji nearly dropped the cup in her hand. "Wow. Look how much you've grown. If it weren't for your voice, I would have never recognized you. How old are you now?"

"Twenty." Ji felt nervous and awkward. That was way Zhen used to make her feel.

"You're a woman now." Zhen hugged her again. "Oh, Ji…I've missed you so much."

"I missed you too Zhen." Ji hugged her back and smiled.

"Sit down." Zhen finally let go. "We have so much to talk about. Sit, sit." Zhen grabbed a pillow for both of them and they both sat down. Zhen grabbed the bowl of fruit and pushed it towards Ji. "Hungry?"

"I'm fine. Thanks." Ji politely declined. With Zhen's hair finally cleaned, Zhen saw a familiar piece of purple silk knotted up in her hair. It was not as bright as it was when it was new.

"Ji…I can't tell you how good it is to see you." Zhen chuckled gently.

"Um…I'm glad you are happy." Ji felt nervous. She was not there just to catch up. The nuns were suspicious. Some of them didn't remember Zhen and they thought she was a strange girl. All of them wanted to know what could have possibly drove her back to the temple. Knowing that Ji was once good friends with her, the nuns sent her to talk to Zhen…to spy on her.

"Hey!" Zhen pointed at Ji.

"What?" Ji froze.

"What is that?" She laughed. "What _is_ that?!" Zhen leaned forward and touched Ji's forehead. She brushed her hair away and saw the blue arrow underneath her locks. "Look at you! You've got your tattoos!"

"Yes. I got them…" Ji was uncomfortable again.

"They look great. So you are a master now? And you are only twenty years old?"

"The other nuns are proud of me. They let me decide things around here sometimes. And I teach."

"Well, you can't be as bad as that Wolf-bat Kyoko." Zhen laughed. Ji didn't. "Where is the old hag? I didn't see her yet."

"Zhen…" Ji cleared her throat and looked down at the floor. "…Kyoko…died two years ago."

Zhen stopped smiling. "…o-oh."

"She got sick. We lit her pyre and sent her ashes over the cliffs."

Zhen didn't know what to say. In a flash, Zhen's mind rewired itself and every memory she had of Kyoko yelling at her and punishing her changed into a moment when Kyoko taught Zhen life lesson or merely tried to encourage her. It is very peculiar how death can make the meanest person in you life suddenly look like a positive influence.

"…well…she had a long life." Zhen said after thinking for a while. Ji stayed silent.

"She did. But it is in the past. And now you are here. You have been gone a long time. We should talk. Tell me of what has happened to you."

Zhen's face turned into a stone statue again. "I don't want to talk about it."

"Why not?" Ji asked nicely.

"I just don't." Zhen looked away.

"I only want to know." Ji paused. "Where is Chun? I thought you would be married by now."

Zhen's eyes narrowed and she looked sad again. "…I was." She rubbed her ring finger. It was empty.

"What do you mean 'you we're?" Ji got a little angry. Marriage was supposed to be a lifelong commitment. "What does that mean exactly? Where is Chun?"

"Chun…is dead." Zhen gulped.

"What? How…" Then Ji remembered the burn mark on Zhen's back and had a horrible thought.

"Please…I don't want to…" Zhen grabbed the sides of her head "…just leave me alone." Ji could see a tear on Zhen's cheek.

"Zhen, please. I just want to know. Everyone is worried about you."

"I don't see how what happened to me is their business." Zhen growled.

"I'm not your enemy Zhen. I just want to know what happened to you."

"And I said that I don't want to talk about it!" Zhen yelled.

"Why not? We used to talk about everything. We're still sisters…right?"

"…always."

"I just want to know the truth. Where did you go when you left? What did you do?"

"It's a long story." Zhen rubbed her stomach again. She felt the pain crawling back.

"I'm not going anywhere." Ji smiled.

"Chun…met me at Omashu. We traveled around for a long time. We went all over the earth kingdom. Even Ba Sing Se. And a few months after that…" Zhen smiled and laughed under her breath. "…we got married."

She paused.

"But then…he wanted to travel more. We didn't settle down. He wanted to go to the far west of the Earth Kingdom. And…and…"

"What?"

"Ji…" Zhen's body began to shake. "…I don't…feel…"

"Zhen?"

"Ack!" Zhen covered her mouth and coughed up a hand full of vomit. The yellowish-green mixture dripped through her fingers.

"Zhen!" Ji stood up to avoid the spew. "Help! Someone get a towel!"

"Stop…I…" Zhen wiped her mouth clean. "… don't need help."

"You're sick. I knew you were sick. You still don't look that healthy, even after all you've eaten."

"Go away. I'm not sick."

Ji saw Zhen's hands gently rub her stomach. Suddenly Ji noticed that, while the rest of Zhen's body was very thin, her stomach was slightly round.

"Zhen…" Ji took a few steps backwards, nervous.

"Here!" A young girl popped into the room with a cleaning cloth. "Anything else Sister Ji?"

"Uh…" Ji took the cloth. "…no. That will be fine. Please, leave us alone for now."

The girl bowed and left. Ji handed the towel to Zhen, who began cleaning herself up.

"Zhen…you're are hiding something from me." Ji's voice was cold. Zhen didn't say anything. "Did Chun die from a sickness?"

"…no."

"Was he killed?"

"…yes." Zhen held back her tears.

"Did it have anything to do with that burn on your back?"

"Stop." Zhen shook again and hacked up another wave of vomit.

"Alright. I'm sorry. I won't ask anymore questions about Chun. But…how long were you planning on hiding…" She pointed to Zhen's stomach. "…that?"

Zhen looked up at Ji, then back at the little lump under her robe. "I just need somewhere to stay for a while. This is the only safe place I know. Please don't tell anyone."

"Don't tell anyone? I have to! Zhen, this is…not a little secret, nor is it one that can be kept. If you stay here, people are going to notice that you're pregnant."


	8. Suffering in Paradise

**Suffering in Paradise**

The other airbenders stared at Zhen whenever she walked by. In four moths, the tiny lump on her belly had grown to a large round circle. She was the only person in the Temple with a child inside her.

She was not allowed to be around the younger girls, and the older monks alienated her, even though Mother Superior Liao had permitted Zhen to live in the temple again.

Ji was the only person in the temple who didn't avoid her. Every other night, Ji came to Zhen's quarters to see how she was doing. They didn't eat meals together, as Ji had to watch over her students. Nor did they see much of each other during the days. Zhen spent a lot of time reading and thinking.

After ten years of separation, the girls didn't spend time remembering each other. They spent time trying to get to know each other. They both had changed. A lot. Zhen had become so beautiful that she was like another person. Ji had become more confident and like her predictable life in the temple. They knew each other, but after the first week they realized that they were really strangers.

But Ji learned a lot about Zhen during the last four months of her pregnancy. She learned that Zhen had forgotten almost all of her airbending. She stopped practicing after she got married. She could practice again because of the child. It drained her energy like nothing she had ever experienced before.

Ji learned that Chun was a good man, but after a few years their relationship went a little bad. For some reason, they couldn't have a child during the years they were together.

Ji learned that, while in the far west of the Earth Kingdom, Zhen and Chun got into a big fight about how they didn't have any children after seven years of being married. Chun left their little tenement infuriated. Years of being away from the temples took away both of their patience and compassion.

On the same day of the big fight, Chun bumped into an aggressive man and they yelled at each other, growing angrier by the minute. Chun didn't know what an Agni Ki was, and was not prepared when the strange man lit his body on fire.

Zhen had gone looking for him, finding him just as her husband was killed. She called for help, signaling the authorities. When her back was turned, the man shot a ball of fire at her back and Zhen lost consciousness.

When she awoke, the man was arrested and her husband was dead. She buried him, thinking that a cremation was inappropriate, and sold all of the possession they had gained over the years. Everything except the little purple ribbon.

She wandered for a while. She saw the Sky Bisons coming from the Eastern Air Temple. Coming from home.

She didn't know she was pregnant, she though she was just sick. She climbed the mountain range herself, not knowing how dangerous the strain was on the baby. She stayed in empty temple for two days with nothing to eat, waiting for the other benders to show up.

Ji had never heard such a terrible story. She was the only one who knew the truth. Zhen made Ji promise to keep it a secret. Zhen even made Ji take the Confessional Oath, to ensure that she would never tell another soul. The other nuns were upset when they heard that Ji had taken the Oath and they began to press Zhen for the story themselves.

When the first nun asked her about her past, Zhen took a vow of silence for a two weeks. That let everyone know how serious she was about keeping her past to herself.

* * *

"Zhen. We have to talk about something." Zhen said to Ji. It was the final month of her pregnancy and her stomach was like a swollen balloon.

"Is it about…ya know?" Ji glanced at her sister's massive stomach.

"…yes. I don't want it to leave."

"Zhen….it has to. It is your first born. The customs clearly state that…"

"Oh, enough with the blasted customs already!" Zhen raised her voice but, thankfully, did not yell.

"They are the rules that all airbenders follow. We don't have anything else to live by, other than the written scrolls. It is a child. And it must be sent to where it belongs."

"I know. But it's _my _child! It's part of me. It's the last piece of Chun that I have left. I can't just part with it."

"You think you are the first orphan here? We all are. No one here knows their parents."

"And you're happy not knowing who they are?"

"I don't care. It doesn't matter. It was not my decision to make and it is not yours either."

"You sound just like Kyoko."

They waited for a minute. The wind past between them.

"You're good friends with the people on the council. Can't you bend the rules for me?" Zhen asked.

"No, no, no. Zhen, I can't do that! That's not bending the rules. That is flat out breaking them. And this is the only rule that the Great Scroll _orders_ us to obey. It is the only unavoidable rule. When you and Chun talked about kids, did you just forget that you would have to give up your first born? Even if you were away from the temple, you'd still have to come back and give the child up."

"I know, I know, I know!" Zhen pulled her hair, tugging on the purple ribbon. "But that was before…before he died. Now, this is all I have of him! All I will ever see of him again."

"The teachings say that all of life is an illusion, and so are attachments…"

"Stop!" Zhen interrupted. Ji believed in the customs like they were carved into the side of the world. Ji would preach to Zhen about them and Zhen was getting sick of it.

Ji sighed and rubbed her eyes. "Okay…look…this is clearly the last month, right? It's going to be born very shortly."

"Right." Zhen nodded and touched her stomach.

"The Great Scroll says _those born in the sleeping seasons goes to the south and east temples_. That means fall and winter. It's fall. If…and _only_ if, you have a girl…she can stay here."

"Really?!" Zhen had forgotten what the scrolls said, another thing she had forgotten in the Outside World.

"But you know what would happen to you. You would never be allowed to tell her that you are her mother. Ever. You could see her, and teach her, but you have to remain detached from her. It would be a secret you would have to die with, understand?"

Zhen felt something horrible inside her. Some would say Maternal Instincts were prodding her, telling her that it would be a fate would be worse than never seeing the child.

"…but she would stay here. She would be one of us." Zhen said, almost asking, almost begging.

"…yes. She would."

Zhen thought about it. "I really hate those customs."

"I know. But I love them." Ji sighed. They really had changed.

* * *

"So…" Zhen said two weeks later, when they were alone. "…I was thinking of names…"

"That does it!" Ji grunted. "Zhen, you are not allowed to name your child."

"People in the Outside World can."

"You are not part of the Outside World anymore! You have to stop this! You are one of us again, and that means you have to live by our rules!" Ji yelled.

She was getting fed up with Zhen. Behind her back, Ji even started agreeing with the other nuns, that Zhen was a poor excuse for an airbender and that she was setting a bad example for the younger girls.

"…these rules are stupid." Zhen said defiantly. "They don't set you free. They hold you down. It would be better if someone came here and burned them all to ashes."

Ji could not take anymore. "You are not only insulting your own culture, but you are also insulting mine! I have had enough of you speaking out against the things I believe in. I don't care if you don't like them; they are a part of my life. You _will_ follow them. Or we will kick you out of this temple!"

"What happened to you Ji? You used to be a nice girl."

"I was about to say the same thing." Ji huffed at Zhen. They stared each other down for a while. Zhen thought that Ji would actually hit her.

"Fine. I know I am not wanted here. I'll just go." Zhen turned her back. Ji instantly felt regret.

"Go? You're a watermelon, you can't go."

"You're the last thing I had to believe in. And now that you don't care about me…" Zhen turned her head and, with angry and teary eyes, glared back at her former sister. "…then I've got nothing to stay for…"

Knowing that she would be in danger if she left, the Spirits may have intervened.

"…ow….OW! AHH!" Zhen grabbed her stomach and closed her eyes.

"Zhen?" Ji stepped towards her.

"Something…is wrong! Ahh! Get help!" Zhen grabbed her stomach and bit down on her lip.

"The baby is going to be born!" Ji said. "Help! Somebody!"

"I'm scared. Don't leave me." Zhen grabbed Ji's hand.

"I won't. I'm sorry. I didn't mean what I said." Ji rubbed Zhen's hand.

"Ahh….yes you did." She grunted. "But I'm sorry too."

* * *

Five hours of pain and screaming. There was blood and urine and sweat. Zhen thought that she was actually going to die.

But the end result was beautiful, and worth it.

Zhen screamed one last time and then a tiny voice screamed in place of her own. The nuns quickly juggled the infant around, cleaning it and making sure it was healthy.

"What…" Zhen panted to the midwife who was holding had been holding her hand.

"Shhh." The midwives cooed her. "It's okay. It was a very healthy birth."

"What is it?" Zhen asked, crossing her fingers in her other hand.

"It's a boy. A healthy baby boy, all ten toes and fingers."

"Did you say a boy?" Zhen asked again, hoping she misheard.

"Yes. I did."

"That's…wonderful. I'm so happy." She said, trying to hide her pain. "

"I know how hard it is sweetie." The older midwife rubbed her hand. "I had to send my boy away too."


	9. Those Blasted Customs

**Those Blasted Customs**

"Is everything ready?" Sister Daio asked.

"Yes." Ji said. "We can send the boy away tomorrow. I'm going to escort him along with some other nuns early in the morning."

"Good." Daio said. She went back to watching over the sleeping babe in the small make-shift crib. Ji leave stayed in the room. "You are still here."

"Zhen would like to see the child one last time."

Daio looked at Ji, ready to give a lecture, but hesitated…thought about it…then calmly said "That's fine."

"Thanks you Ma'am." Ji bowed.

* * *

Ji led Zhen to child's room. She had to keep an eye on Zhen, to make sure that she didn't steal the baby or do anything rash.

Sister Daio left them alone. For once, she felt sorry for Zhen.

It had been six weeks since she had given birth. The little man had fattened up and grown a little tuff of dark brown hair. Zhen had taken care of the baby in those six weeks. The children couldn't get enough of the little guy. They all thought he was adorable.

Zhen loved him. She couldn't explain it, but she felt such an urge, almost an instinct to be near him.

Knowing that she was trapped in the Air Temple, Zhen did her best to conform again and accepted the rules and the ways of her people. But at night, when she was alone, she silently cursed those blasted customs.

She entered the room slowly, not wanting to wake her son, and leaned over the crib, watching him like the Spirits watch over Man. She stroked his hair and smiled when she saw him move in his sleep.

"Does he have a name yet?" Zhen asked.

"The monks at his new home will name him. You're not allowed to follow him." Ji reminded her.

"I know." Zhen touched his little hand and the boy opened his eyes. He looked confused, staring at Zhen like she was a stranger. His eyes were little gray mirrors. They looked exactly like Zhen's eyes.

"He'll be fine Zhen. We know the leaders of the Southern Air Temple. He'll be in good hands."

"Ji…I love him. I can't explain why, but I love him so much."

"Gaa." The little boy moved, reaching for his mother's nose.

Ji watched the two for a minute. She didn't know what to say. There was _nothing_ she could say to make Zhen feel better.

"He's a real sweetie." Ji said. "Maybe we should let him sleep." She said, gently touching Zhen's shoulder.

"Just a few more minutes. Then I'll go."

"…sure." Ji said. She sat down and patiently waited.

Zhen stared at him, wondering what he would look like when he would be a boy, and then a teenager, and then an adult. Zhen wondered what foods he would like, what kind of skills he would have, if he liked music like she did. She wondered, also like his mother, if he'd go out and see the world. She prayed that he would have better luck than herself.

A few minutes turned into an hour. Finally, Daio came in the room. She didn't say anything; Zhen knew that her presence was a signal to leave.

She kissed her son on his delicate forehead and he giggled. Then she left. The baby paused for a few seconds, then cried out for her.

* * *

Zhen didn't sleep. She watched the sunrise and watched Ji load her boy on a large Sky Bison with a few other nuns.

They flew southwest, towards His new home.

* * *

Zhen took a walk across the temple grounds that morning, looking for her Secret Spot. She looked and looked. It took her a good while before she realized that a shrine was in place of her old hang out.

"Nothing stays the same." She said to herself.

She looked up in the sky and swore she saw a younger version of herself flying in the clouds, laughing, blowing raspberries to the Sky Bisons. Zhen smiled. The girl in the sky was a stranger now, like everyone else in her life…including her son.

Her fingers crawled into her hair. Slowly, she pulled out the purple ribbon out of her brown locks and let it run through her fingers. She fiddled with it for a while, missing Chun. And the imaginary family that she had always wanted.

The ribbon was once bright and vibrant. It was once extremely valuable and all she ever needed. Now it was dull and torn at the ends. Now it was heavy a boulder and twice as rough. Zhen's hand hurt when she held it, like it was on fire.

She loved what it used to mean to her. Now, it was just a reminder of what she had lost. And she had enough.

Feeling the wind starting to move, Zhen held out her hand and let the gust take the ribbon away. She watched it fall down the slopes of the mountains. The vision of the girl she used to be flew down with it, spiraling far away. Never coming back.

Zhen didn't care anymore. She didn't want her youth or her old spirit back. She didn't want things to go back to the way they were…

…she just wanted to see her boy again…


	10. Circle

**Last Chapter**

* * *

**Circle**

…but Irony is a cruel teacher. Sometimes it punishes us. Sometimes it gives us exactly what we want_. _

* * *

Zhen stayed in the temple, not having anywhere else to go. She patiently relearned her air bending, though she never gained her true skills back.

She got back into the swing of life in the Easter Air Temple, a life of peace and quiet. Soon everyone accepted her as a Sister of the Temple again.

But still, Zhen would find her self looking towards the sun as it set, looking southwest, wondering what her son was doing.

Eventually, Zhen was allowed to teach with some of the young women. She did not teach air bending or dancing. She taught those preparing to leave the Temple. She was to serve as an "example" so that they would brace themselves for a hard life if they let their guard down.

Zhen didn't mind. She thought those girls would need all the help they could get. Every time she heard the young girls talking about their dreams, of getting married and having children, she couldn't help but sigh.

She wasn't crushed. She was sad.

She wasn't depressed. She was lonely.

She was not a bad person. She just wished she could see her baby again.

And years later, by the time she had gotten over the pain, Irony and Fate granted her wish.

* * *

The Western Air Temple, deep within the heart of the Fire Nation, was the next location of the Festival of Four Winds. Once again, there was loud music, too much food and young people flirting with each other. The elders enjoyed themselves, but still found things in the Festival to look down on and judge. Zhen saw the hypocrisy. No one else did.

Zhen didn't want to the Festival, but had too. Ji made her. Ji had moved up in the ranks, and she refused to leave her good friend alone at home. Ji thought she was being nice, b Zhen knew beter. Ji had become more rigid over the passing years, changing into stone more than air. Zhen suspected that the real reason Ji brought her along was to keep an eye on her.

Ji was doing a fine job of filling the empty space Kyoko left.

Zhen, like Ji, stayed at the far edges of the Festival, minding the children half the time and spending time alone the other half. On the first day, she laughed and danced a little but the Nuns looked down on her and she quickly stopped. Surrounded by judgment, she learned how to behave and obey.

Five days passed and Zhen spent most of her time near the Bisons, combing their fur. She walked into the festival grounds only to get food.

On the fifth day, she wandered into town with a craving for fruit custard. And with no Elder Monks watching, she figured that she could get away with indulging herself for a short time.

Everyone around her was smiling, she noticed as she walked. She loved the sound the string instruments and the unusual stories that the bards told. Everything was moving; everything was alive!

Dozens of stands and carts were settled around the sacred ground. The entertainers did not plan on leaving until the very last day, and there was something reassuring in knowing that they would keep playing until they absolutely could not anymore.

The wind blew gently and, Zhen noticed, how the weather was always nice around Festival time.

Zhen inhaled deeply, closing her eyes, enjoying the breeze…when…

…something gentle touched her foot.

Zhen looked down and saw a red ball teeter around her ankle. Still smiling, she bent down to pick it up.

A second pair of hands reached down at the same time. Smaller hands. A child's hands.

Zhen looked up…and saw a pair of very familiar grey eyes look back at her. She froze.

A nervous little boy looked back at her, rosy cheeked. He had the ball in his hands, but did not move, fearing that he might have done something to offend the strange women.

Zhen didn't need to second guess. She knew who he was. It was her boy. Something (instinct, hope, the Spirits) told her that it was her son.

She gawked, unable to say anything. Luckily, the kid spoke first.

"Hi." He said. His voice was crisp as an apple and his smile, as gently curved as the horizon, looked like Zhen's when she was young.

"…hi?" Zhen kept staring. She nodded and slowly stood up straight.

"That's my ball Ma'am." He pointed to the red orb.

"Oh. Sorry. Here." Zhen let go of it and the boy held it close to his chest.

"Thank you." He took a few steps back, but didn't look away because The adult was still looking at him.

"Uh, wait!" Zhen walked towards him. The boy shook a bit, out of shyness, but didn't run. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you. I just…thought that I recognized you."

"Um…I don't think we've met." He smiled again. "This is my first time away from home. I've lived in the Southern Air Temple my whole life."

"The Southern Air Temple…" Zhen sighed. "I hear the people there are very friendly. It's…nice to meet you. My name is Zhen." She smiled a bit.

"I'm Aang." The boy held out his hand for her to shake.

"Aang." Zhen repeated it many times in her head before grabbing his thin hand. "That's a nice name."

"Thanks. Zhen is nice too."

"How…old are you. Aang." Zhen took deep breaths between sentences and spoke softly, like Aang was a bird and she was sure that he would fly off if she made too much noise.

"I'm nine years old. I'm almost ten!" He said proudly.

"Nine. I had a hunch you were. You're practically a man already." She smiled.

"Yeah okay." He rolled his eyes, thinking that she was mocking him.

"Sorry. You're right. You've still got a lot of growing up to do." Zhen looked to her right and saw the sweet stand she was looking for. "I have some extra money Aang. Would you like a fruit pie? Or some custard?"

"Yeah?! I love custard!" Aang's eyes widened with hunger.

"So do I. It's one of my favorites." Zhen walked him over to the tent and bought him his choice. Strawberry. He ate it so quickly that it was gone by the time Zhen got hers.

"Thanks. Thanks a lot Zhen." He wiped his mouth with his sleeve. "But…why did you buy that for me? We don't really know each other."

"Is it really so bad to trust someone that you've…" She tried not to gulp. "…that you've never met?"

"Well…"

"I only want to be nice. We _are _at a party."

"…yeah. Okay." He moved a bit closer to her and bowed. "Thank you very much."

"My pleasure." Zhen smiled, still holding her desert. "But I am not finished eating. Do you mind if you keep me company while I eat."

Aang looked at the open bench next to them, then back at Zhen. "I guess that would be okay."

* * *

It was the longest desert Zhen had ever eaten. She asked him questions casually, with great and hidden intrigue.

He loved flying and that he had an incredible talent for Air Bending. He liked playing sports and laughing. He had a Sky Bison back home and they were the best friends.

After a few more questions, he said "One day…when I am older…I want to leave the Southern Air Temple. I want to see the world, go places that some people never go see. Like the South Pole. I've always wanted to go sledding on a Penguin-Seal. That would be great."

He was exactly like her.

Zhen wished she could have nagged him right there. She wished she could have been there to worry about him getting in trouble when he went out to play games.

"I don't know who my parents are." Aang said out of nowhere. "Gyatso is a nice guy…oh, Gyatso is the man who watches over me. But he's not my father. I'm an orphan."

"We all are." Zhen reminded him.

"Yeah…I guess. But still…I always wonder about my parents. Like, I wonder why…my mother didn't want me."

"No, Aang…don't say such things! She loves you Aang, all mothers love their children. If she saw you know…" Zhen nearly started crying "…she'd be so proud."

"Are you alright?" Aang knew she

"I'm fine. I'm okay…little Aang. Don't worry about me." Zhen begged her son, the stranger she'd never get to know. "Please, whatever happens to you, don't worry about me."

There was never anything more soul crushing, more painful for Zhen then not being able to tell Aang who she was…and who he was to her.

* * *

The Festival ended as quickly as it started. Zhen did not see Aang again during that week. She did not want too. She couldn't bare it. It was too much.

She went back to the Eastern Air Temple broken again. She did not speak to anyone, taking another (unofficial) vow of silence.

When they all got back to the Temple, Zhen had nothing else to do but meditate on what had happened to her. She could not act, she could not run away, she could turn back time. She could only do what he other nuns told her to do.

* * *

So…Irony is a cruel teacher. Sometimes it punishes us. Sometimes it gives us exactly what we want_…_without us even knowing.

Zhen had wanted to leave her home and see the world. And she did.

She wanted to have an adventure, and she did.

Zhen wanted to get married and have a child…and she did.

And, unfortunately, Zhen's greatest dream came true as well, even though she would never know it.

She met the Avatar. Twice. Once when she gave birth to him and once at the festival. And she was right; if they had spent more time together, they _would _have become the best of friends.

The little hero would never know his mother. Even more tragic, he would never know the girl she use to be.

The girl that used to dance with the wind.

The girl that used to laugh a lot.

The girl that would smile, even one cloudy days.

The boy would never know how much he was like his mother, or how much she loved him.

Now Zhen was older and her youthful spark, her blissful innocence, had been ripped out of her heart. The real world, which seemed so alluring and attractive, cut her down the way a lumberjack cuts down a tree that had grown too tall.

Yet her suffering had a greater meaning to it.

Had Zhen stayed in the temple her whole life, had she never encountered such hardship, her son…Aang…the Avatar that would save the world…would never have been born.

Separated, the boy would never see the sad human his mother had become. In giving him up, she gave him a chance to be the person _she_ once was…someone who laughed, and danced, and watched over people. Someone who gave people hope.

He was more than just the Avatar. He was another chance to reclaim the innocence that Zhen had so foolishly gambled away. He had a bright future ahead of him…without his mother…

…and, though Zhen would never know it in her lifetime, she had given the world an a savior.

_That _was her gift.

* * *

**I learned an unfair fact in my Shakespeare class. Tragedies are so much more interesting than happy endings. A happy ending teaches people that everything works out in the end, even though they do not always. A tragedy teaches people to be human.**

**If you felt sad by the time you finished this, that just means you have a heart.**


End file.
